Mother of inmate who died in Sask. prison says he wasn't healthy enough to be in general population
Chris Van Camp was only days removed from overdose coma when he was sent back to prison, his mother says
The mother of a man who died inside a federal prison in Prince Albert, Sask., on Wednesday says her son should not have been back in prison.
I want to know exactly what happened.- Lauren Laithwaite
Correctional Service Canada says Chris Van Camp was found dead inside his cell. His death is being treated as suspicious.
Van Camp's mother says she was told her son was beaten in his prison cell before his death.
"I want to know exactly what happened. I want to know if there any people being looked at and I want to know if he was able to fight back, because I don't think he was," said Lauren Laithwaite.
Overdose a week before death
Laithwaite said Van Camp was let out of prison earlier this year. He had been serving time for armed robbery, fraud and theft.
She said her son suffered from a drug addiction, and a week before his death, he ended up doing a line of cocaine that was laced with fentanyl. He overdosed.
That overdose, she said, put him in a coma for five days.
While he was in hospital in Calgary, Van Camp was arrested for breaching his parole by doing the drugs that put him in the coma, his mother said.
"I get it was a breach of conditions and there is a system set up, but the system went really wrong here," she said.
Van Camp was sent to prison in Saskatchewan. Laithwaite said her son, who was only days recovered from the coma, was in no state to be put back in general population.
"I think any medical doctor would say someone coming out of a coma on life support shouldn't be able to go back to main jail in three days," she said.
Lee Anne Skene, the deputy warden with the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, said she could not comment on Van Camp's medical condition.
She confirmed that RCMP were at the prison Thursday afternoon. In a news release, RCMP said an autopsy will take place later this week.
RCMP Major Crime Unit North, Forensic Identification and General Investigation Sections are investigating the death.
Second death inside prison in 1 day
Van Camp's was the second death inside the prison Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Correctional Service Canada announced that another inmate at the penitentiary, Daniel James Tokarchuk, had died.
- Inmate Daniel Tokarchuk dies in Saskatchewan prison
- 2nd man dies in Saskatchewan prison where inmate died Wednesday
The 44-year-old man had been serving an indeterminate sentence since Dec. 16, 2004, for second-degree murder, mischief and failure to comply with a court appearance.
Correctional Service Canada has not release details about what happened in either case, or whether the deaths were related.